Main menu

The Official Blog of Author James Fadeley

5 Things I Want in Space Marine

A fan should enjoy the game and yet always ask for more. It’s not greed, but a desire not to let a developer relax their laurels. So after some thought, I put together five ideas of content to add to Space Marine, of which two I scratch out for reasons I explain, leaving three potentially good ideas and two ideas which need work.

What would M. Bison say about adding this guy to Space Marine? Click on the picture to find out...

Terminators.Shadowhawk and I had a quick, enlightening discussion about how it should work. I offered two ideas. One was a single Terminator for a team, which spawns for the person making the most kills that match. The second idea was simply for it to be a class who cannot sprint, roll or use grenades. Instead, the Terminator gains more powerful weaponry like the Heavy Flamer, and Storm Bolter each with Power Fist. Since Terminators are both Chaos and Imperial, it balances. Adding Terminators also brings us too…

Space Hulk.
If you’re going to do a four player co-op mode where you smash AI controlled bad guys, do it right I say! Sure, Exterminatus is going to be fun, but everyone aches for the suicidal charges, firing down long halls and orgy of destruction that is Space Hulk. Four Terminators, one Space Hulk and a boat load of Gene-stealers on a suicide mission… If you really want to do something cool, make it five players with the fifth one controlling the Gene-stealers.

Scouts.
A lighter class, faster with an easier load out of equipment? For sure! It’s easy to imagine a nimbler character with a smaller missile launcher or sniper rifle. At least, until you realize that Chaos has no equivalent. Indeed, no one is entirely sure how the recruitment process for Chaos works, though there are many reasonable theories. Some could offer a substitute class, such as a Mutant or a twisted traitor Guardsman. But Mutants are generally random and it would suck to be an ordinary man, and not very canonical to imagine he could fight a Scout on equal terms. As I mentioned before, there were five ideas but two I shot down myself. Scouts were one of them.

Hey, I'll take a Tank if they won't give us a Dreadnought...

Dreadnoughts.
Imagine, if you will, that once a round, each side gets access to a Dreadnought. It happens at the same time, with the highest scoring player respawning as a Dreadnought with unbelievable fire power and intense hit points. Kind of like the Tank from Left 4 Dead 2. Such a development might necessitate the use of melta bombs as a means to counter it on foot.

Random classes.
Again, another idea I had to scratch. At first I thought it was a decent one to choose from being an Assault Marine, Tactical or Devastator. But then I sat back and realized, it’s a bad idea.

Truth be told, not every map is made for every class option. Some have lots of low ceilings which hurt Assault Marines and Raptors. Others are small stages which really hurt Stalker Pattern Bolter carrying Tacticals or Las-cannoned Devastators who benefit from ranged fire fights. No, Random classes I think are a terrible idea. Hence, it’s an idea I put forward that I now scratch.

So there you have it. I can’t claim that Valve doesn’t influence my game design thinking, but the fact is that Valve makes fun games. Everyone can learn a thing or two from them.

How about that blog?

So things are changing this year for the blog. While writing remains the number one focus, keeping up with general pop culture and entertainment is gaining ground. Expect more retweets, more current topics and more thematic changes.